The 

Road  to  Destruction  Made 

Easy  in  Chicago 


Louise  de  Koven  Bowen 


ISSUED  BY 

THE  JUVENILE  PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION 

OF  CHICAGO 

1916 


The 

Road  to  Destruction  Made 

Easy  in  Chicago 


Louise  de  Ko\en  Bowex 


ISSUED  BY 

THE  JUVENILE  PROTECTIVE  ASSOCIATION 

OF   CHICAGO 

1916 


The  Road  to  Destruction  Made 
Easy  in  Chicago 

FOR  nine  years  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  of  Chicago  has 
been  carefully  watching  both  physical  conditions  and  moral  sur- 
roundings in  theatres,  dance  halls,  cabarets,  amusement  parks  and 
lake  boats,  as  well  as  other  places  which,  unless  they  are  properly 
regulated,  easily  subject  young  people  to  the  grossest  temptations. 

During  these  nine  years  the  Association  has  been  encouraged 
many  times  to  believe  that  conditions  were  improved,  but  investi- 
gations made  during  the  past  eight  months  have  revealed  the  fact  that 
the  general  non-enforcement  of  law  in  Chicago  has  become  dangerous- 
ly registered  in  these  very  amusement  places.  So  shocking  have  con- 
ditioiis  become  that  even  well  intentioned  young  people  in  search  of 
recreation,  at  the  present  moment  in  Chicago,  walk  a  road  easily  lead- 
ing to  destruction. 

Although  the  city  administration  cannot  be  held  responsible  for 
the  lake  boats,  the^  conditions  on  the  excursion  steamers  afford  one 
more  danger  to  Chicago  youth.  Young  people  would  have  a  right  to 
consider  that  an  excursion  on  Lake  Michigan  would  be  a  perfectly  re- 
putable outing,  and  even  a  somewhat  careful  mother  might  naturally 
assume  that  her  daughter  would  be  safe  with  a  party  of  young  people 
"spending  the  day  on  the  lake."  She  could  hardly  be  expected  to 
know  that  there  are  two  distinct  types  of  lake  boats — those  that  carry 
the  holiday  and  excursion  crowds,  and  those  that  carry  the  regular 
passenger  and  business  traffic ;  nor  would  she  know  that  as  a  usual 
thing  numbers  of  disreputable  people  habitually  travel  on  the  excur- 
sion boats.  These  latter  carry  the  largest  number  of  people — not  all 
of  them  by  any  means  an  undesirable  type,  but  the  respectable  people 
are  used  by  the  disorderly  element  as  a  cloak  for  their  improper  con- 
duct. 

The  disorderly  groups  are  of  two  kinds ;  young  women  who  are 
professional  prostitutes  and  men  who  follow  the  excursion  crowds 
looking  for  women  recruits.  There  is  still  another  group  consisting 


of  young  men  and  women  who  are  already  acquainted  but  without 
social  standards ;  they  are  perhaps  drifting  toward  the  "lover"  stage 
and  quickly  reflect  the  laxity  and  disorder  on  the  boat.  They  start 
out  for  a  day's  excursion,  but  find  the  voyage  longer  than  they  had 
anticipated.  The  boat  is  delayed  several  hours  and  they  return  to  the 
city  with  their  relations  irrevocably  altered  and  the  whole  aspect  of 
their  future  changed. 

The  largest  of  these  excursion  boats  is  licensed  to  accomodate 
2,800  people  and  doubtless  often  exceeds  this  limit.  A  crowd  of  this 
size  on  shore  would  be  well  policed,  but  the  excursion  boats  often  do 
not  have  more  than  one  police  officer  on  board,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
keep  this  large  number  of  people  in  order.  The  lack  of  supervision 
encourages  a  curious  tendency  in  the  individual  to  permit  himself 
greater  license  of  conduct  in  a  crowd  and  in  unfamiliar  suroundings 
than  under  ordinary  circumstances.  If  for  no  other  reason  than  this 
every  boat  should  be  well  policed. 

While  the  regular  boat  excursion  is  supposed  to  take  only  one 
day,  the  excursion  boats  often  are  late  and  frequently  do  not  dock 
until  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning;  sometimes  as  late  as  four  or 
five  o'clock. 

The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  made  its  first  investigation 
of  lake  excursion  boats  in  1910,  only  to  be  startled  and  horrified  by  its 
findings.  For  two  reasons  it  did  not  publish  the  result  of  its  investi- 
gation. First,  because  the  members  of  its  Board  felt  that  it  would  be 
most  unfortunate  if  the  parents  of  respectable  young  people  should 
feel  that  they  must  deprive  their  children  of  what  ought  to  be  a 
wholesome  and  sane  recreation;  and  second,  because  they  did  not 
doubt  that  these  conditions  would  be  quickly  remedied  when  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  management  of  the  steamboat  lines. 

After  repeated  letters  had  been  sent  to  the  managers,  the  owners 
and  as  many  of  the  local  stockholders  as  could  be  found,  and  after 
many  of  these  letters  had  been  followed  by  personal  visits,  both  of 
these  efforts  having  failed  to  elicit  any  co-operation  or  to  produce  any 
improvement  in  conditions,  the  Association  tried  prosecuting  the 
steamboat  management  on  the  charge  of  selling  liquor  to  minors. 
This  charge  could  not  be  sustained  because  of  the  difficulty  of  estab- 
lishing jurisdiction. 

If  the  ofTense  occurred  within  three  miles  of  Chicago,  it  was  a 
violation  of  a  city  ordinance;  from  there  to  the  middle  of  the  lake  it 


was  breaking  a  law  of  the  state  of  Illinois;  then  the  boat  sailed  into 
the  waters  of  the  state  of  Michigan  and  for  three  miles  before  landing 
was  under  the  ordinances  of  the  approaching  port.  The  same  difficulty 
obtained  in  regard  to  open  violations  of  decency  involved  in  renting 
staterooms — the  same  space  was  often  rented  over  and  over  again 
during  one  crossing.  The  Association  did  not  attempt  to  prosecute 
under  the  charge  of  gambling,  indecent  dancing,  soliciting,  etc.,  al- 
though all  of  these  offenses  were  obvious. 

Two  years  were  spent  in  establishing  the  futility  of  prosecutions. 
The  third  year  the  Juvenile  Protective  Associatio'n  invoked  the  aid  of  a 
committee  of  the  Union  League  Club,  who  finally  called  together  at  a 
luncheon  some  of  the  owners  and  stockholders  of  the  excursion  boats 
to  hear  the  reports  directly  from  the  Association.  At  this  luncheon 
— possibly  because  of  talk  of  indictment  by  a  Grand  Jury — the  gentle- 
men invited  to  the  luncheon  promised  immediate  reforms.  In  the  next 
few  weeks  one  boat,  never  one  of  the  worst,  was  thoroughly  cleaned 
up,  the  staterooms  were  removed,  the  bar  was  minimized,  the  decks 
were  better  lighted,  and  the  police  supervision  was  increased.  In 
many  of  the  excursion  boats,  however,  only  very  superficial  changes 
were  made,  and  during  the  following  summer  conditions  were  almost 
as  bad  as  ever;  as  for  the  boat  which  had  been  improved — the  Pere 
Marquette,  it  unhappily  went  to  the  bottom  of  the  lake. 

For  several  seasons  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  began 
over  again  its  dreary  round  of  securing  small  improvements  while 
the  essential  dangers  were  untouched.  Some  help  came  from  the  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Board  of  Education  to  investigate  the  charge 
that  "lake  steamers  are  detrimental  to  the  character  of  public  school 
children,"  whose  findings  corroborated  the  Juvenile  Protective  Asso- 
ciation report.  Further  publicity  was  obtained  of  the  shocking  condi- 
tions on  lake  excursion  boats,  incorporated  in  the  1911  report  of  the 
Chicago  Vice  Commission.  These  findings  agreed  with  the  Juvenile 
Protective  Association  that  the  evils  could  be  corrected  only  by  insist- 
ing that  the  Federal  authorities,  under  whose  control  the  boats  are 
run,  enforce  the  law. 

In  the  summer  of  1915  a  vigorous  effort  was  made  by  the  Associa- 
tion to  secure  action  from  the  federal  authorities.  Repeated  visits 
were  made  to  the  office  of  the  federal  officials  connected  with  the 
Department  of  Commerce,  and  by  a  curious  coincidence  a  full  report 
was  handed  to  the  Deputy  Inspector  of  Customs  the  very  day  before 


the  Eastland  disaster.  The  two  government  officials  interviewed, 
both  expressed  their  interest  in  and  approval  of  the  work  of  the  As- 
sociation, and  promised  to  take  up  the  matter  at  once  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  steamship  lines.  Under  the  horror  of  the  tragedy  of  the 
Eastland,  the  newspapers  were  eager  for  any  material  relating  to  the 
lake  boats.  They  were  given  access  to  the  records  of  the  Association 
and  for  several  days  made  full  use  of  the  material. 

The  Association  had  a  right  to  hope  that  in  the  reforms  which  it 
was  assumed  would  undoubtedly  follow  such  a  disaster,  the  moral  and 
social  conditions  of  the  boats  would  be  considered  as  well  as  adequate 
safety  provisions.  Before  the  end  of  the  season,  however,  the  lake 
excursion  boats  were  running  with  their  uSual  quota  of  passengers, 
and  most  of  the  old  shocking  conditions  prevailed,  as  shown  by  the 
report  of  the  investigators  of  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association. 
Forty  trips  in  all  were  made  by  these  men  across  Lake  Michigan, 
covering  six  different  steamship  lines.  On  most  of  the  investigated 
boats,  paddle  games,  roulette  wheels,  doll  and  candy  raffles  were 
permitted.  The  dancing  was  vulgar,  rough  and  indecent.  Liquor 
was  often  sold  to  minors ;  men  and  women  drank  freely ;  couples  lay 
about  in  each  other's  arms  on  poorly  lighted  decks ;  staterooms  were 
rented  indiscriminately  to  men  and  women  without  any  regard  to 
their  martial  relations — in  many  instances  to  young  people  under  18 
years  of  age;  men  were  taking  liberties  with  decent  looking  girls, 
some  of  whom  were  intoxicated.  The  safety  appliances  were  used  as 
seats ;  the  life  boats  were  covered  with  people  who  were  lying  on 
them;  ropes  were  tied  up  in  knots,  and  in  case  of  accident  there 
would  have  been  great  loss  of  life. 

Shall  this  be  allowed  to  continue?  The  Juvenile  Protective  As- 
sociation feels  that  nothing  effective  can  be  done  about  safeguarding 
life  and  morals  on  the  lake  boats  without  a  large  body  of  public  opin- 
ion. It  seems  incredible  that  after  the  enormous  loss  of  life  on  the 
Eastland  this  has  not  been  secured.  While  every  effort  is  being  made 
to  do  away  with  prostitution  in  the  city  of  Chicago  and  the  segregated 
district  is  practically  closed,  many  of  the  lake  excursion  boats,  seeming 
to  offer  innocent  enjoyment  with  fresh  air  and  the  holiday  making 
which  city  young  people  so  obviously  need,  are  virtually  floating 
houses  of  vice  and  a  fruitful  source  of  supply  for  the  so-called  "White 
Slaver." 

As  the  season  of  1916  opens  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association 
is  planning  to  do  the  usual  amount  of  investigating,  and  it  hopes  at 


last  to  secure  a  genuine  co-operation  from  the  federal  authorities,  with 
some  action  on  the  part  of  the  Harbor,  Wharves  and  Bridges  Com- 
mittee of  the  City  Council. 

AMUSEMENT  PARKS. 

One  naturally  assumes  that  an  evening  spent  by  young  people  in 
the  park — even  an  amusement  park — from  the  very  fact  that  it  is  out 
of  doors  and  filled  with  people  of  all  ages,  would  be  free  from  the  more 
open  temptations  which  one  easily  associates  with  dance  halls,  cab- 
arets, etc.  On  the  contrary,  however,  the  investigators  of  the  Juvenile 
Protective  Association  have  found  that  there  is  no  public  opinion 
against  the  most  open  familiarity  on  the  grounds  of  the  amusement 
parks;  that  overt  indecencies  are  overlooked  by  the  good-natured 
crowds ;  that  there  is  no  official  supervision ;  and  that  young  people 
after  the  excitement  of  the  evening  are  allowed  to  go  unchecked  down 
the  most  direct  road  to  destruction.  The  assistant  to  the  Judge  of  the 
Juvenile  Court  of  Cook  County  recently  spoke  of  the  prairies  adjacent 
to  one  of  our  amusement  parks  as  "the  largest  house  of  assignation 
in  Chicago." 

An  investigation  made  of  one  amusement  park,  covering  six 
visits,  was  perhaps  typical  of  many  of  the  other  parks.  This  investi- 
gation disclosed  vulgar  and  suggestive  advertisements  for  penny 
arcades,  although  the  display  inside  was  often  very  tame;  many 
gambling  devices  were  in  operation ;  girls  of  eighteen  years  were 
drinking  to  excess;  small,  children  with  older  people  were  drinking 
beer;  a  child  three  years  old  was  seen  intoxicated.  As  it  was  so-called 
Carnival  Week,  dozens  of  girls  were  dressed  in  men's  clothing  or  in 
baseball  suits,  almost  inviting  the  horse  play  which  was  accorded 
them.  Men  were  taking  undue  liberties  with  girls  and  open  embrac- 
ing was  seen  everywhere.  Children  under  16  years  of  age  were  em- 
ployed on  floats  in  an  evening  parade,  thus  violating  the  Child  Labor 
Law.  Two  pairs  of  deformed  twins  were  displayed  in  a  side  show ; 
groups  of  intoxicated  girls  and  boys  were  seen  wandering  around  the 
grounds  with  their  arms  around  each  other;  young  girls  were  sitting 
on  the  knees  of  their  escorts.  At  midnight  the  grounds  were  crowded. 
Hundreds  of  children  were  among  the  last  to  leave,  and  many  girls 
were  joined  by  young  men  as  they  left  the  park.  Conditions  in  the 
dance  halls  were  good  in  this  park,  but  the  supervision  on  the  grounds 
was  not  sufficient,  and  indiscriminate  selling  of  liquor  to  minors  and 
familiarity  between  young  men  and  women  evidently  led  to  immor- 
ality. While  the  park  reported  upon  doubtless  was  one  of  the  worst 
in  the  city,  its  general  demoralization  was  not  unlike  that  found  in  all 
of  the  parks  investigated. 


THEATRES. 

During  the  last  decade  the  "movies"  have  attracted  an  ever 
increasing  number  of  young  people.  In  1909  there  were  in  Chicago  405 
five  and  ten-cent  theatres.  The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  at' 
that  time  was  anxious  to  get  an  idea  of  conditions  in  the  theatres,  and 
their  ofificers  made  1,156  visits  to  them.  The  investigation  showed  a 
demoralized  condition  of  affairs,  and  216  violations  of  law  were  re- 
ported to  the  police,  the  building  and  fire  departments,  and  the  state 
factory  inspector. 

In  1911  the  Association  undertook  another  investigation  of  the 
theatres.  They  found  that  because  the  price  of  the  license  for  the 
smaller  theatres  had  been  raised,  there  were  then  only  298  third-class 
theatres;  in  288  of  these,  motion  pictures  were  shown,  of  which  251 
were  good,  33  fair,  and  only  4  were  bad.  At  this  time  the  Associa- 
tion also  found  that  there  had  been  a  general  improvement  in  the 
physical  condition  of  the  theatres. 

Since  1911  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  has  constantly  had 
its  officers  visit  the  moving  picture  shows  and  the  cheap  theatres  in 
their  districts.  For  a  time  the  conditions  seemed  greatly  improved 
and  this  improvement  has  continued  up  to  the  present  city  administra- 
tion. The  Censorship  Committee  under  Second  Deputy  Funkhouser 
of  the  Morals  Division  of  the  City  Police,  with  its  ten  censors  ap- 
pointed under  civil  service,  has  done  extremely  good  work.  This  de- 
partment has  been  much  criticized  by  the  motion  picture  men  and  by 
some  of  the  newspapers  who  have  objected  to  its  censorship.  During 
all  these  attacks,  however,  it  has  been  steadily  upheld  by  women's 
clubs  and  other  organizations  who  have  appreciated  the  excellent 
service  it  has  rendered  to  the  youth  of  Chicago.  That  the  admirable 
work  of  this  Board  of  Censors  has  more  than  a  local  reputation  can 
be  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  California  whenever  it  is  especially 
desired  to  attract  a  most  respectable  audience,  the  film  is  advertised 
as  having  been  censored  by  the  Chicago  Board. 

The  Association  has  recently  received  many  complaints  in  regard 
to  moving  pictures  and  realizes  how  difficult  it  has  been  for  Major 
Funkhouser  to  keep  up  the  standard  of  his  department  under  the  con- 
stant pressure  to  which  he  has  been  subjected.  There  have  even  been 
persistent  rumors  that  the  Morals  Department  of  the  City  Police  was 
to  be  abolished,  a  calamity  which  would  speedily  throw  the  conditions 
prevailing  in  the  moving  picture  theatres  back  to  where  they  were 
when  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  began  its  investigation 
several  years  ago. 


During  the  latter  part  of  1915,  when  the  Juvenile  Protective  As- 
sociation made  an  investigation  of  14  theatres  on  South  State  Street, 
the  results  were  found  to  be  very  discouraging.  In  only  two  of  these 
fourteen  theatres  was  the  performance  respectable ;  though  the  adver- 
tisements on  the  outside  were  in  every  case  worse  than  the  perform- 
ance, and  in  many  instances  the  advertisements  had  nothing  to  do 
with  what  went  on  inside.  The  barkers  employed  by  the  management 
appealed  to  the  sporting  blood  in  the  crowd,  urged  them  to  see  the 
living  models,  assured  the  men  that  they  needed  the  stimulus  which 
the  performance  would  give  them.  In  11  out  of  the  14  theatres,  child- 
ren were  present  in  the  audience;  in  7  the  advertisements  were  very 
objectionable;  in  1  they  were  indecent;  in  2  theatres  chorus  girls 
danced  in  the  aisles,  flashing  an  electric  light  in  the  faces  of  the  men 
and  singing  a  song  about  wanting  someone  to  love  them.  In  3  theatres 
indecent  folders  were  given  away  to  the  purchasers  of  candy;  in  2 
theatres  professional  tattooers  were  advertising  their  skill  and  occa- 
sionally securing  a  client.  In  7  theatres  the  dances  were  coarse,  ob- 
scene and  vulgar.  In  5  there  were  muscle  dancers  who  posed  and 
danced  suggestively ;  in  6  theatres  women  in  tights  posed  as  living 
pictures,  such  as  Liberty,  September  Morn,  etc.  In  2  theatres  women 
danced  practically  nude. 

The  shows  were  all  of  a  low  order.  Pictures  of  actresses  in  scant 
costumes  and  suggestive  poses  were  openly  displayed  outside,  while 
inside  the  vaudeville  skits  were  vulgar,  the  dances  were  suggestive, 
and  the  performers  often  scantily  clothed.  Twelve  of  these  theatres 
were  reported  to  the  Morals  Division  of  the  City  Police  Department. 
Nothing  was  done  and  they  were  reported  a  second  time.  Fortunately, 
through  the  efforts  of  the  Morals  Committee  of  the  Woman's  Church 
Federation,  8  of  the  theatres  have  since  been  closed.  This  was  the 
more  necessary  since  the  majority  of  these  14  theatres  are  in  the 
vicinity  of  one  of  our  large  public  schools  whose  pupils  are  among  the 
patrons  of  the  theatres. 

DANCE  HALLS. 

The  majority  of  young  people  dependent  upon  public  sources  for 
recreation  doubtless  find  it  most  often  in  a  public  dance  hall.  For 
this  very  reason  these  places  should  be  kept  as  decent  and  wholesome 
as  possible ;  but  at  present  in  almost  all  of  them  liquor  is  sold  to  young 
people.  This  is  due  to  an  iniquitous  law  peculiar  to  Chicago  which 
provides  that  a  special  bar  permit  can  be  issued  by  the  Mayor  to  any 
group  of  people  who  call  themselves  a  society  organized  for  "fraternal, 

7 


educational  or  charitable  purposes,"  and  who  pay  six  dollars  for  per- 
mission to  sell  liquor  from  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  until  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  Such  an  application  is  supposedly  investigated 
by  the  police  and  a  permit  given  only  to  responsible  organizations. 
Many  of  these  permits  are  given  to  people  whose  real  object  is  solely 
to  sell  liquor.  In  some  cases  they  have  been  granted  to  saloon-keepers 
who  by  the  use  of  a  permit  can  sell  liquor  until  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  and  thus  avoid  closing  at  one  o'clock  as  required  by  a 
city  ordinance.  In  utter  confusion  of  mind,  one  young  woman  came  to 
the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  itself  to  ask  how  a  special  bar 
permit  might  be  obtained.  She  wanted  to  make  a  trip  to  New  York 
and  had  heard  that  by  hiring  a  dance  hall  and  selling  liquor  she  could 
make  five  or  six  hundred  dollars  in  one  night. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1914  an  attempt  was  made  to  pass  an  ordi- 
nance in  the  City  Council  which  prohibited  the  sale  of  liquor  in  any 
dance  hall.  There  was  so  much  objection  to  this  ordinance  on  the 
part  of  aldermen  representing  foreign  born  constituencies  that  a 
compromise  ordinance  was  introduced  and  passed  in  April,  1915. 
This  ordinance  provides  that  great  care  must  be  taken  in  the  issuance 
of  special  bar  permits ;  that  application  for  such  permits  must  be  made 
fifteen  days  before  the  date  on  which  the  entertainment  is  to  be  given, 
and  that  it  must  contain  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  officers  of 
the  club  seeking  the  permit ;  that  the  city  collector  must  keep  posted 
in  his  office  a  list  of  such  applicants;  that  any  citizen  may  file  an 
objection  to  the  issuance  of  the  permit  within  five  days  of  the  en- 
tertainment; that  a  bond  of  $3,000  must  be  given  with  every  appli- 
cation for  a  permit;  that  if  any  objectionable  feature  occurs  at  the 
entertainment  it  can  be  reported  within  five  days  by  any  citizen,  and 
if  this  complaint  is  sustained  when  investigated  by  the  Second  Deputy 
of  Police,  the  officers  of  the  organization  can  be  held  accountable. 
The  Juvenile  Protective  Association,  however,  has  found  that  the 
present  police  department  is  making  little  effort  to  enforce  this  ordi- 
nance. 

So  carelessly  are  the  permits  issued  that  in  one  case  the  man  in 
whose  name  the  permit  was  granted  had  been  dead  for  several  weeks. 
The  result  of  this  great  laxness  is  that  many  bar  permits  are  granted 
without  investigation  to  "fly  by  night"  clubs  who  have  no  financial 
or  moral  standing,  sometimes  to  organizations  without  even  an  ad- 
dress and  again  to  several  individuals  who  have  combined  for  the 
purpose  and  who  give  a  dance  solely  to  make  money. 


Among  the  clubs  whose  special  bar  permits  were  investigated  by 
the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  were  those  bearing  such  absurd 
names  as  The  Merry  Whirlers,  the  Put  Away  Trouble  Club,  the  Girls' 
Taxi  Club  and  the  Tutti  Trampi  Club. 

The  present  situation  is  extremely  discouraging  because  the 
Juvenile  Protective  Association,  as  well  as  many  other  agencies  in 
Chicago,  for  the  last  six  years  has  made  repeated  attempts  to  better 
conditions  in  the  dance  halls.  The  Association  began  its  effort  in 
1910  because  it  received  so  many  complaints  regarding  dance  halls 
from  mothers  whose  chidren  were  attending  dances  in  public  halls 
that  the  Association  determined  upon  an  exhaustive  investigation. 
For  sixteen  months  it  had  investigators  in  328  dance  halls;  many  of 
public  halls  were  visited  a  number  of  times.  The  results  of  this  in- 
vestigation showed  that  the  public  dance  halls  of  Chicago  were  largely 
controlled  by  the  saloon  and  vice  interests,  many  of  the  halls  being 
owned  by  the  brewery  companies.  As  a  consequence,  hundreds  of 
young  girls  are  annually  started  on  the  road  to  destruction,  for  the 
saloon  keepers  and  most  of  the  dance  hall  owners  have  but  one  end 
in  view,  and  that  is  profit.  In  the  majority  of  the  dances  visited 
during  the  sixteen  months,  liquor  to  minors  was  sold  in  more  than  half 
of  the  halls,  the  grossest  and  most  dangerous  form  of  tough  dancing 
was  being  practiced,  and  in  only  seventeen  instances  did  the  police 
render  good  service.  It  was  found  that  190  halls  had  saloons  opening 
into  them,  and  that  liquor  was  sold  in  240  out  of  the  328  halls.  The 
employes  of  these  halls  were  always  ready  to  give  information  to 
young  people  regarding  the  location  of  disreputable  hotels,  and  in 
many  cases  the  use  of  the  dance  hall  premises  for  immoral  purposes 
was  connived  at  by  the  management.  Many  of  the  halls  were  poorly 
lighted ;  there  was  little  protection  in  case  of  fire  and  the  ventilation 
was  wretched. 

The  conditions  in  the  worst  halls  were  reported  by  the  Associa- 
tion to  the  police  or  to  the  city's  chief  executive,  and  in  consequence 
some  licenses  were  revoked  and  in  many  of  the  halls  conditions  were 
improved.  In  the  winter  of  1912-1913  the  Association  kept  six  in- 
vestigators busy  visiting  the  dance  halls,  and  began  a  systematic  pro- 
secution of  proprietors  bringing  many  of  them  into  court  charged  with 
sale  of  liquor  to  minors.  In  three  instances  the  Association  upon  re- 
quest furnished  social  workers,  to  supervise  Italian  dance  halls,  and 
these  workers  were  paid  by  the  proprietors  of  the  halls.  This  experi- 
ment was  a  success,  and  the  halls  so  supervised  became  thoroughly 

9 


respectable.  The  O'Hara  Investigating  Committee  and  the  Curran 
Commission  summoned  many  dance  hall  keepers  before  them  and 
the  officers  of  this  Association  were  called  to  give  evidence  concerning 
some  of  the  halls.  They  did  so,  using  the  card  index  to  the  dance 
halls,  which  is  kept  by  the  Association.  In  consequence  of  the 
publicity  incurred  thereby,  the  dance  hall  proprietors  took  more  pains 
with  their  halls  and  conditions  seemed  somewhat  improved.  In  the 
winter  of  1914-1915  another  investigation  was  made  covering  about 
fifty  of  the  worst  halls.  While  some  of  them  were  bad,  the  conditions 
on  the  whole  showed  improvement.  Under  the  present  city  adminis- 
tration however,  the  dance  halls  during  the  winter  of  1915-1916  are 
more  open  in  their  violations  of  decency  and  in  their  disregard  of 
all  city  ordinances  and  state  laws  than  ever  before. 

The  Association  has  had  investigators  in  the  dance  halls  during 
the  entire  winter.  There  are  now  about  800  such  halls  in  Chicago.  The 
investigators  report  the  indiscriminate  sale  of  liquor  to  minors,  im- 
proper and  indecent  dancing,  undue  familiarity  between  young  men 
and  girls,  and  such  flagrant  indecencies  that  they  are  absolutely  un- 
printable. At  one  dance  investigated  by  the  Juvenile  Protective  As- 
sociation on  March  7th,  1916,  intoxicated  waiters  were  seen  hugging 
and  kissing  girls;  young  men  held  girls  upon  their  knees;  the  girls 
were  immodestly  clothed ;  the  premises  of  the  dance  hall  itself  were 
used  for  improper  purposes.  Three  policemen  were  present  at  this 
dance,  all  of  whom  drank  freely.  The  license  of  this  hall  was  revoked 
two  years  ago  because  of  a  disgraceful  incident  which  occured  on  the 
premises  and  this  dance  hall  was  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  Mor- 
als Commission,  who  in  November,  1915,  recommended  that  its  license 
be  revoked.  Under  the  present  administration  its  dances  are  un- 
restrained, and  indecency  and  libertinism  go  hand  in  hand. 

Another  dance  advertised  a  band  just  up  from  the  "Pup  Cafe." 
At  this  dance  the  patrons  were  almost  all  intoxicated;  young  men 
and  women  were  immodest  in  their  actions  and  the  dancing  became 
so  vile  that  the  management  finally  interfered.  The  patrons  were 
negroes  and  whites  who  danced  together  in  a  grossly  immoral  way. 

The  "Put  Away  Trouble  Club"  was  investigated  on  March  21, 
1916.  The  crowd  was  extremely  boisterous;  men  shouted  at  each 
other  across  the  room ;  frequent  screams  were  heard  from  the  women ; 
boys  and  girls  would  sit  for  many  minutes  locked  in  close  embrace 
until  the  bystanders  called  time.  The  investigators  reported  that  the 
dancing  was  the  worst  they  had  ever  seen  in  a  public  dance  hall,    A 


large  number  of  the  women  present  seemed  to  be  professional  prosti- 
tutes. Very  disgusting  muscle  dances  were  given  by  a  few  women ; 
liquor  was  served  after  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  almost  all 
of  the  young  men  were  intoxicated — one  couple  so  much  so  that  they 
could  not  stand  up.  There  was  no  interference  on  the  part  of  the 
management  with  the  dancing;  two  policemen  were  present  at  this 
dance  but  made  no  effort  to  enforce  the  three  o'clock  closing  ordinance 
or  to  control  indecent  dancing.  There  were  several  girls  present  under 
18  years  of  age. 

When  this  dance  was  reported  to  the  Chief  of  Police  it  was  neces- 
sary to  deliver  the  report  to  him  by  hand  as  it  was  of  such  a  character 
that  it  could  not  be  sent  through  the  mails.  Yet  up  to  date  no  action 
has  been  taken  on  the  part  of  the  police  in  regard  to  this  dance  hall. 
The  Association  began  suit  against  four  of  the  officers  of  this  club. 
The  case  has  been  continued  twice,  and  is  now  set  for  hearing  May 
18th.  But  by  that  time  the  hall  where  this  dance  was  held  will  have 
had  several  other  dances,  and  by  the  middle  of  May  the  dance  hall 
season  is  over. 

Another  dance  was  investigated  on  February  18th,  1916.  The 
Morals  Commission  recommended  on  November  15th,  1915,  that  the 
license  of  the  hall  where  this  dance  was  held  be  revoked.  At  this 
dance  three  police  officers  were  seen  drinking;  another  policeman 
was  acting  improperly  with  a  woman ;  from  twelve  to  three  o'clock 
the  intoxication  of  the  patrons  of  the  hall  became  apparent.  Women 
were  sitting  upon  men's  knees,  and  at  most  of  the  tables  where  liquor 
was  served  men  and  women  were  guilty  of  the  most  improper  conduct. 
One  girl  of  only  17  years,  who  was  very  much  intoxicated,  was  one 
of  the  worst  offenders.     At  three  o'clock  an  agent  in  livery  passed 

through  the  hall  saying  "Nice  rooms  at Hotel."    One  woman 

was  giving  her  four  year  old  boy  liquor  which  speedily  made  him 
intoxicated,  much  to  the  amusement  of  the  bystanders.  There  were 
cabaret  singers  who  sang  while  passing  between  the  tables  occasion- 
ally snatching  a  glass  of  liquor  from  them. 

The  advertisements  for  this  dance  stated  that  the  democratic 
candidate  for  alderman  of  the  ward  was  to  be  the  floor  manager  and 
urged  patrons  of  the  dance  to  vote  for  him.  The  man  to  whom  the 
bar  permit  was  issued  decamped  with  the  funds  of  the  dance.  The 
treasurer  was  the  head  bell  man  at  the  hotel  where  it  was  announced 
good  rooms  could  be  procured. 


The  Juvenile  Protective  Association  regretfully  feel  that  the 
police  department  is  making  no  effort  whatever  to  properly  investigate 
the  applicants  for  special  bar  permits ;  that  it  is  absolutely  indifferent 
to  the  three  o'clock  closing  ordinance;  and  that  although  policemen 
are  present  at  dances  the  majority  make  no  attempt  to  interfere  even 
when  they  see  the  grossest  indecencies  and  the  most  immoral  actions. 
The  guardians  and  parents  of  young  people  might  have  a  right  to 
suppose  that  our  dance  halls,  licensed  under  the  city  administration 
and  policed  by  city  officials,  would  be  a  safe  place  for  their  wards. 
On  the  contrary,  at  many  of  the  dances  given  in  Chicago,  liquor  is 
sold  so  openly  to  minors — common  decency  is  so  frequently  violated 
and  immorality  so  condoned — that  the  dance  halls  positively  push 
young  people  into  and  down  the  road  to  destruction. 

CABARETS. 

Many  a  young  man  who  asks  a  girl  to  go  to  a  movie  with  him  of 
an  evening,  after  they  have  seen  the  film  feels  that  he  has  not  been 
gallant  unless  he  takes  his  girl  to  a  cabaret,  where  if  he  buys  a  few 
drinks  they  can  hear  the  singing,  dance,  and  "get  on"  to  the  newest 
steps  as  demonstrated  by  professionals. 

The  establishment  of  cabarets  in  Chicago  saloons  on  a  large  scale 
is  comparatively  new — possibly  not  more  than  a  year  or  two  old — and 
has  spread  rapidly.  The  larger  saloons,  which  had  vacant  space  or 
a  big  room  at  the  rear,  started  the  custom  by  employing  professional 
entertainers  in  order  to  attract  patrons.  The  man  across  the  street, 
running  a  smaller  saloon,  felt  that  he  could  not  afford  to  do  without 
this  entertainment,  and  if  he  had  a  back  room  he  put  in  a  few  tables, 
hired  a  waiter,  and  engaged  a  young  woman  to  sing  or  dance.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  more  than  half  the  saloons  in  Chicago — there 
are  over  7,000  in  all — have  cabarets  connected  with  them,  and  in  most 
of  these  cabarets  young  women  are  employed  to  sing  or  dance,  the 
number  in  each  saloon  varying  from  one  to  ten.  This  would  mean  that 
there  are  vast  numbers  of  young  girls  in  Chicago — probably  thousands, 
of  them — whose  business  it  is  to  act  as  entertainers  in  the  saloons 
with  cabarets  attached.  It  is  not  required  of  these  girls  that  they 
should  sing  well  or  be  especially  proficient  in  dancing.  They  are 
put  in  the  cabarets  in  order  that  they  may  drink  with  the  patrons  and 
the  girl  who  is  most  valuable  is  the  one  who  is  able  to  induce  a  cus- 
tomer to  order  the  largest  number  of  drinks.  In  order  to  produce 
excessive  thirst,  salted  nuts  are  distributed  free  or  sold  for  a  small 
sum  by  the  management  throughout  the  evening. 


These  girl  entertainers  secure  their  positions  from  agents  who 
are  licensed  by  the  State.  One  at  least  of  these  agents  makes  it  clear 
to  the  girl  he  is  engaging  that  he  does  not  care  whether  she  can  sing 
or  not,  but  that  if  she  will  comply  with  the  demands  he  makes  upon 
her  he  will  get  her  a  steady  job. 

All  agents  who  find  positions  for  girls  take  anywhere  from  five  to 
ten  per  cent  a  week  off  the  salary  earned,  if  a  position  is  secured.  The 
Association  has  knowledge  of  dishonesty  among  these  agents ;  one  of 
them  found  a  place  for  a  young  girl  at  $25.00  a  week,  claiming  for 
himself  $1.75  or  7%  as  commission.  He  always  collected  her  wages 
and  handed  her  each  week  $23.25.  One  week,  however,  when  he  was 
detained  by  a  broken  down  automobile  she  insisted  upon  receiving  her 
own  salary  less  the  7%  commission.  Much  to  her  surprise,  she  was 
given  $32.55,  her  salary  really  having  been  $35.00,  and  the  agent  for 
a  long  time  having  illegally  retained  $11.75  each  week  for  himself. 

The  majority  of  girls  who  go  into  this  kind  of  work  are  young 
girls  from  the  country  who  feel  that  they  are  making  "easy  money" 
because  the  salaries  range  from  $18  to  $75  a  week— a  sum  which 
seems  very  large  to  an  unsophisticated  girl.  These  girls,  however, 
really  make  very  little,  as  they  are  required  to  wear  rather  fashion- 
able and  elaborate  clothes,  and  their  wardrobe  costs  so  much  that 
they  are  seldom  able  to  save.  A  girl  who  sings  in  one  of  these  cab- 
arets is  also  required  to  drink  with  the  patrons.  The  majority  of 
them  drink  whiskey;  though  occasionally  one  is  found  who  will  not 
drink;  one  such  girl  always  called  for  gin  and  had  a  secret  under- 
standing with  the  waiter  that  he  was  to  bring  her  only  cold  water  in 
a  gin  glass ;  in  this  manner  she  pretended  every  evening  to  drink  a 
dozen  glasses  of  gin. 

When  a  girl  applies  for  a  position  in  a  cabaret  it  is  not  uncom- 
mon for  the  manager  to  make  improper  proposals  to  her,  and  to  refuse 
to  give  her  a  position  if  she  will  not  accede  to  his  demands.  One 
decent  young  woman  who  sings  well  and  has  been  employed  in 
various  cabarets,  has  given  up  her  occupation,  stating  as  her  reason 
that  no  self-respecting  woman  could  sing  the  songs  or  commit  the 
acts  now  required  of  her  by  the  management.  In  the  majority  of  the 
cabarets  the  girl  singer  is  used  only  as  a  lure  for  the  men,  and  many 
of  the  establishments  have  rooming  houses  connected  with  them  or  in 
the  immediate  vicinity. 

It  is  commonly  stated  that  the  police,  without  whose  connivance 
it  would  be  impossible  of  course  to  carry  on  many  of  the  features  at 


present  to  be  found  in  cabarets,  not  only  exact  the  usual  free  drinks 
but  insist  upon  "privileges"  with  the  cabaret  entertainers.  These 
cabarets  are  now  by  city  ordinance  forbidden  to  sell  drinks  after  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  law  which  is  interpreted  as  applying  only  to 
the  bar,  and  cabaret  singers  are  required  to  be  on  duty  between  one 
and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  In  some  of  the  larger  places  they 
run  three  shifts  of  girls,  one  from  afternoon  until  about  9  o'clock; 
one  from  9  until  2  o'clock,  and  the  third  until  morning.  The  dancing 
floor  in  the  cabaret  is  usually  a  small  space,  which  is  used  by  the 
entertainers  and  by  the  patrons  themselves  who  dance.  When  the 
floor  is  very  crowded,  as  is  often  the  case,  the  couples  are  really  unable 
to  move,  and  they  stand  in  one  place  going  through  the  motions  of 
dancing,  sometimes  in  a  vile  manner. 

Many  saloons  have  a  small  kitchen  connected  with  them  in  order 
that  they  may  keep  open  as  restaurants  on  Sunday.  From  this  kitchen 
is  served  beer  in  glasses,  and  in  order  to  convince  the  observer  that 
they  are  complying  with  the  Sunday  Closing  state  law,  next  to  each 
glass  so  served  is  placed  an,  empty  bottle  of  Alpha  or  "near-beer." 
In  some  of  the  saloons  where  they  ostensibly  do  not  sell  liquor  after 
one  o'clock,  it  is  sold  by  taking  bottle  from  buckets  which  are  placed 
at  midnight  under  tables  in  a  certain  portion  of  the  room.  It  is  very 
usual,  unfortunately,  to  see  girls  at  these  cabarets  who  have  become 
intoxicated,  and  who  are  guilty  of  immodest  actions  of  which  they 
would  be  incapable  were  they  not  under  the  influence  of  liquor. 

Some  of  these  cabarets  have  pictures  of  nude  women  on  the  walls. 
In  one  cabaret  the  investigator  observed  that  a  locked  room  at  the 
rear  was  frequently  resorted  to  by  cabaret  entertainers  and  their 
patrons.  Many  of  the  songs  sung  by  the  entertainers  are  obscene ; 
in  fact,  when  a  girl  applies  to  an  agent  for  a  position  he  asks  her  what 
songs  she  knows,  and  often  remarks  after  hearing  them  that  they 
are  not  "tough  enough,"  and  urges  her  to  think  up  something  else, 
making  it  clear  that  he  wishes  to  arouse  the  baser  passions  of  the 
patrons.  Kissing  at  the  table  is  extremely  common,  men  often  cross- 
ing over  to  other  tables  and  embracing  women  in  the  most  open 
manner.  At  one  cabaret  the  proprietor  told  a  girl  entertainer  that 
he  would  give  her  and  the  other  girl  entertainers,  rent  free,  rooms 
upstairs,  and  urged  them  to  make  "easy  money."  At  another  cabaret 
an  investigator  saw  a  girl  under  19  years  of  age  who  was  so  intox- 
icated that  she  was  carried  out  unconscious.  Two  of  the  men  who 
were  helping  her  seemed  to  be  quarreling  as  to  which  should  take 
care  of  her.  She  was  finally  put  into  a  taxi-cab,  both  men  accompany- 
ing her. 


It  is  in  cabarets  such  as  these  that  it  was  hoped  the  thirty  women 
pohce  recently  appointed  on  the  Chicago  force  could  be  oi  value. 
Unfortunately,  owing  to  lack  of  [)roper  system,  these  police  women 
are  scattered  over  the  city,  duplicating  the  work  of  other  agencies, 
while  the  cabarets  and  public  dance  halls  are  still  unguarded. 

One  of  the  worst  features  of  this  rapid  development  of  the  caba- 
rets is  that  the  girl  who  becomes  a  professional  entertainer  faces  three 
perils.  First,  she  is  interviewed  by  an  agent — often  disreputable — and 
although  she  may  escape  from  his  attentions,  when  she  enters  the 
cabaret  she  places  herself  in  the  power  of  the  proprietor,  who,  in  many 
cases,  makes  evil  demands  upon  her.  Lastly,  she  is  an  open  prey  for 
the  disreputable  patrons  who,  demoralized  by  drink,  force  their  atten- 
tions upon  her.  There  are  a  vast  number  of  young  girls  who  find  this 
occupation  a  new  opportunity  for  earning  money,  and  there  are  many 
other  young  women  who  would  not  dream  of  accepting  an  invitation 
from  an  escort  to  enter  an  ordinary  saloon  and  to  drink  over  the  bar, 
who  are  willing  to  attend  a  so-called  entertainment  even  though  it 
be  held  in  a  room  back  of  a  saloon.  Literally  thousands  of  young 
people — young  boys  as  well  as  girls — thus  make  their  first  acquaint- 
ance not  only  with  public  drinking  but  with  disreputable  characters 
and  become  familiar  with  that  sinister  evil  which  apparently  has  a 
never-ending  capacity  for  masquerading  as  recreation. 

This  survey  of  the  public  sources  of  recreation  available  to 
Chicago  young  people  reveals  a  situation  in  many  respects  worse  than 
that  ever  before  found  by  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association.  The 
conditions  have  never  been  good,  and  each  year  the  reports  of  inves- 
tigators have  been  read  with  a  sinking  of  the  heart.  Nevertheless, 
during  this  period  there  has  been  a  gradual  improvement,  both  in  the 
laws  and  in  their  enforcement.  At  present,  however,  the  laws  and 
city  ordinances  regulating  the  various  public  amusements  are  fairly 
good,  but  unless  they  are  enforced  with  a  genuine  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  police  for  decency  and  good  will,  there  is  every  opportunity 
that  the  immature  and  pleasure-seeking  patrons  of  these  places  may 
be  absolutely  ruined. 

Conditions  under  the  present  administration  in  the  dance  halls 
and  cabarets  are  worse  than  the  Association  has  ever  known  them 
to  be.  They  sound  a  ringing  challenge  to  the  moral  energy,  almost 
to  the  maternal -instinct,  of  the  good  women  of  Chicago,  that  they 
may  rise  to  protect  these  young  people  through  the  only  method 
possible,  the  purification  of  political  life. 

April  20th,  1916. 


\0 


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